Had enough pie and other rich foods? Try some wholesome, homemade soup to bring balance back to your diet. It is delicious, filling and warming. All you need is some bread and you’ll have your evening meal ready. Even though I never eat lima beans any other way, I love this soup. Kids love it too!
Barbecue Lima Bean Soup
- 7 cups water
- 1 lb. dried large lima beans (2 cups)
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 1 green pepper, diced
- 2 carrots, diced
Seasonings:
- 2 cups tomato juice (or an 8 oz. can of tomato sauce plus a cup of water to substitute)
- 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon dry mustard (or 1 tablespoon prepared mustard)
- 1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt
Using a pressure cooker makes this recipe very easy!
Pressure Cooker Instructions: Rinse and drain beans. Put beans, water, veggies into pressure cooker and cook (at the normal setting: 15 lbs. pressure) for 10 minutes. Beans should be tender. Blow on a spoonful and the beans will peel back their outer coating when done. Add seasonings. Let simmer for 15 minutes to blend flavors.
Stove-top Instructions: If you are cooking this soup without a pressure cooker, put beans in a pot of cold water and soak overnight. In the morning, drain and add new water. (There is controversy about whether to use the nutritious soak water, or to drain it to cut down on the digestive distress caused by beans. Draining it seems wisest to me, as a very small amount of nutrients are lost, but your family will enjoy beans more, and probably eat them more often.) Simmer covered for 45-60 minutes, until beans are tender. Add the seasonings during the last 15 minutes of cooking.
I always “doctor” up my soups with summer’s harvest which I have dried in my food dehydrator. I keep this compact dried garden food in jars near my stove. Today, I omitted the tomato juice and added 1/2 cup of tomato powder in with some water to make up the liquid content. I also added dried powdered yellow squash, and crumbled dried leaves of kale, beet greens and swiss chard into the soup making it super nutritious! You don’t taste these garden veggie additions, but they add health and a nice green fleck to the soup, which I think is pretty and gourmet.
Soup’s hot! Serve with apples slices and whole grain bread and butter for the homiest comfort supper you can imagine! Serves 6.
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